IN Woodland Hills Fall 2018 | Page 39

Woodland Hills Academy Wins 2017-2018 Fairchild Challenge BY CATHIE PEARSON

A Visit from a Pulitzer Prize Winner BY KEVIN McGUIRE

On December 4, the Woodland Hills Interaction Series hosted an event with Pulitzer Prize winning author Jennifer Egan. This event was the culminating activity for students in the Creative Writing and 11th grade English and classes. Each student read one of Ms. Egan’ s books: a third of the students read A Visit from the Goon Squad, a third read The Keep, and a third read The Invisible Circus. Teachers Mrs. Christyn Coles, Mr. John Danchisko, Mr. Kevin McGuire, and Ms. Erin Wall prepared the students in small group discussions. The students insightfully discussed the books and prepared questions which they asked Ms. Egan during her visit.

Ms. Egan’ s visit was made possible by Pittsburgh Arts &
Lectures, a local organization that brings bestselling and world renowned authors to schools. She spoke at the Carnegie Music Hall the same day she visited Woodland Hills and she remarked,“ I can’ t tell you what a joy it was to visit [ Woodland Hills ] today. As
Students at Woodland Hills Interaction a mother of two
Series event with Ms. Jennifer Egan.
teenage boys, 14 and 16, to see such a bright eyed, excited bunch of kids, engaging with writing and with a writer was heartening to me, not only as a writer, and of course we’ re all looking to connect with young readers, but honestly just as a citizen who wants to be sure young people remain engaged with reading and remain civically active and all of those things. So kudos to that school.”
Since its inception in 2013, the Woodland Hills Interaction Series has provided first-class interaction opportunities for students at Woodland Hills Junior Senior High School, hosted multiple award winning authors, and was even featured in The New York Times Magazine. Founders library media specialist Mr. Kevin McGuire and instructional technology coach Mr. Jason Coleman have organized nearly twenty events to support the educational initiatives of the school district. Follow the Woodland Hills Interaction Series on Twitter @ WHInteraction
WOODLAND HILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS

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Woodland Hills Academy Wins 2017-2018 Fairchild Challenge BY CATHIE PEARSON

Congratulations to students in 6th-8th grade at the Woodland Hills Academy for winning the 2017-2018 Fairchild Challenge at Phipps Conservatory. Their first place finish this year marks their sixth year as Fairchild Challenge Award winners. They completed six environmental challenges throughout the course of the school year highlighting their talents in all areas of the curriculum. There were 25 schools from across the tristate area that participated in this year’ s competition. The Academy received $ 1,000.00 for continuing environmental education. We are so proud of our students for this amazing accomplishment!

Left: First Row( beginning with the second person): Ivan Remaley, Bree Boyd, Zoe Painter, Alicia Matthews, Lucy Elston Second Row: Alex Shimenko, Annelise Hanson, Briana Nesbitt, Zoe Spear, Helena Marshall, Max Onder, Isabel Concepcion, Mia Damico
Left: Front row: Mia Damico, Zoe Painter, Lucy Elston, Bree Boyd Back Row: Max Onder, Nathan Scott, Dasan Jay, Alicia Matthews, Isabel Concepcion, Briana Nesbitt, Zoe Spear, Helena Marshall, Gianni Maffessanti Sixth grade students with the environmental action project that they created which was called“ A Breath of Fresh Air”. It is an indoor plant wall designed to improve air quality with plants. The wall was made from a reused pallet and the planters are reused plastic bottles in order to reduce solid waste pollution.
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